When Paige Zalman went to sleep on the night of Tuesday, April 2, she was still a PhD candidate. By the time she went to sleep on Wednesday, April 3, not only was she now Dr. Paige Zalman after successfully defending her thesis, but she was also the winner of WVU’s 3-Minute Thesis competition, capping a day she likely won’t forget anytime soon.
It’s not an ideal circumstance to undergo the stress of a dissertation defense and an intense competition like 3MT within hours of each other. Zalman certainly didn’t draw it up that way.